epsilon

epsilon
    n 1: the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet
    

epsilon


   [see {delta}]

   1. n. A small quantity of anything. "The cost is epsilon."

   2. adj. Very small, negligible; less than {marginal}. "We can get this
   feature for epsilon cost."

   3. within epsilon of: close enough to be indistinguishable for all
   practical purposes, even closer than being within delta of. "That's
   not what I asked for, but it's within epsilon of what I wanted."
   Alternatively, it may mean not close enough, but very little is
   required to get it there: "My program is within epsilon of working."
    

EPSILON

   <language> A {macro} language with high level features
   including strings and lists, developed by A.P. Ershov at
   Novosibirsk in 1967.  EPSILON was used to implement {ALGOL 68}
   on the {M-220}.

   ["Application of the Machine-Oriented Language Epsilon to
   Software Development", I.V. Pottosin et al, in Machine
   Oriented Higher Level Languages, W. van der Poel, N-H 1974,
   pp. 417-434].

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-05-10)
    

epsilon
within epsilon of

   1. <character> The fifth letter of the Greek alphabet.

   2. <mathematics> (From the Hungarian mathematician {Paul
   Erdos}) A very small, insignificant, or negligible quantity of
   something.

   The use of epsilon is from the {epsilon-delta method} of
   {proof} in {differential calculus}.

   (2001-07-06)